It was a tight sprint among a lead group of seven in the elite men’s field at Falling Leaves Lahti, with Frederik Raßmann (Rose Racing) taking the gravel race victory ahead of Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) while Geerike Schreurs (SD Worx-Protime) won a dash against Annika Langvad (Specialized)
Langvad and Schreurs had launched together early in the 180km Gravel Earth Series race, the two powerhouses working together to establish a solid lead so they could decide the victor in a two-way sprint
“After 55km and some fun corners I had a tiny gap and when I looked over my shoulder I saw Annika Langvad who read my mind and suggested to give it a try to put the hammer down which lead to a 120km breakaway of just the two of us,” said Schreurs in an Instagram post.
Schreurs, who had recently been feeling the sting of a run of second places, wasn’t going to let this one slip away, delivering a powerful turn of speed to claim the top step in Lahti with a time of 5:31:19. Langvad ended up two seconds back while it was nearly five-and-a-half minutes later by the time the third placed Lucy Hempstead (Classified Rose) finished.
In the elite men’s race it was a group of seven coming to the line to contest the sprint, with just four more riders trickling in within 43 seconds of the winner and then a gap of more than ten minutes to the rest of the field.
Traka 360 winner Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing) had been at the front heading through the final corner but was then swamped and Raßmann beat Bardet to the line, who seems to be enjoying his post retirement gravel foray, regardless of whether or not he made the top step.
"This is the gravel," said Bardet in an Instagram post. "Friends, a bib, the desire to play, and we're off!"
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Lawrence Naesen (Next Level Racing) was close behind in third while Kongstad had to settle for fourth.
The Gravel Earth Series race, with over 2000m of elevation gain and a 10% points bump in the overall tally, played out on rolling gravel roads with sections of singletrack as it negotiated its way through the fields and forests of the Lahti region and Salpausselkä UNESCO Geopark.
The next events in the series are Spain's Gravel Desert Monegros and Sweden's Saga Gravel Race on September 13, while Ranxo Gravel closes out the competition in Spain on September 28.
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
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